


Slow Ride

by carolinecrane



Series: down is where we came from [14]
Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-30
Updated: 2010-09-30
Packaged: 2017-10-12 08:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/122798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolinecrane/pseuds/carolinecrane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Car talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slow Ride

It turns out Will's Camaro is a piece of shit.

There's no other way to describe it, Finn thinks as he stares down at the rusted-out frame and the bumper hanging off the back end. He hasn't even looked under the hood yet, and it's not like he'd _know_ or anything, but he has a feeling whatever Will paid for this thing, it was way too much.

"It's not much to look at yet," Will says, and Finn has to swallow a few times before he can answer.

"You really paid money for this thing?"

And okay, that's not exactly what he meant to say, but in his defense, _nobody_ would pay money for this thing.

Instead of getting offended Will just laughs, leaning against the driver's side door and Finn wants to tell him that he maybe shouldn't put his weight on it like that, because he's pretty sure rust is the only thing holding it together.

"It's pretty bad, huh?" Will says, but he sounds totally jazzed about it.

He's grinning like a maniac, dimples on full display and Finn's starting to think this was a really bad idea. There's no way he can spend this much time with Will and not lose it and do something stupid, especially not if he's going to keep smiling like that. But bailing at this point means wiping that smile right off Will's face, and there's no way Finn can do that either.

So Finn just says, "worse," and grins right back at him, and _that's_ a mistake, because it makes Will laugh again and push off the car to clap Finn on the shoulder on his way to pop the hood. His fingers kind of trail down Finn's back as he walks away, and Jesus, if there's going to be _touching_ and smiling, he's totally screwed.

"I picked it up at the Sheriff's auction," Will says from behind the hood, then he leans around the edge of it to look at Finn. He's wearing this faded blue t-shirt that's worn through in a couple spots, and Finn really wants to reach out and find out if it's as soft as it looks. "Somebody left one of those ads in the teacher's lounge, you know the ones where they show the cars that are being auctioned off?"

"Yeah, sure," Finn lies, because no, he didn't even know the Sheriff auctioned off cars, let alone where they come from in the first place, but he knows why Will had to have this one. And he could say so, but he'd rather hear Will tell it than explain why he already knows, so he just edges around to the front of the car to stand next to Will and stare down at what's left of the engine.

"I had this old Camaro back in high school," Will says, glancing over at him and yep, still smiling. Finn feels his cheeks flush, so he leans over the engine and pretends he knows what he's looking at while Will talks.

"We called it the Blue Bomber. I loved that car, you know? I was kind of a geek in high school, believe it or not," he says, and Finn tries to resist, but he can't _not_ look up and see Will's embarrassed grin, because yeah, he's seen those stupid vests Will wears, so he can believe it.

"Anyway, Terri bought me a beat-up old Camaro to work on back when I thought she was pregnant. It looked just like the Blue Bomber. Then I realized there was no way we could have a kid and that car, so I sold it and bought that old minivan I used to drive around."

Finn grins at that, because he remembers that shitty minivan. He remembers how much shit Will took for it from the students at McKinley, but even with his sad ride and his lame vests, he was still the coolest teacher at school.

"But the thing is, I really did love that Camaro, and I was having a great time fixing up the one Terri found. That's probably the only thoughtful thing she really did for me during our entire marriage. I still don't know why she did it."

He stops talking then, just kind of chewing his lip and staring down at the engine like he's really wondering what made a liar like his ex-wife do something nice for once in her life.

And the thing is, Finn knows why. Quinn told him about all of it once, about the car and Terri's fake pregnancy and giving Puck a trial run as a dad. She'd just started talking one day not long after they reconnected, and then it was like she couldn't stop until she said it all, so he'd just...let her.

He'd always been good at letting Quinn do stuff. He was never any good at picking up the pieces afterwards, but at least she didn't seem to expect him to do that part anymore.

He doesn't tell Will any of that, though. The last thing he probably needs to hear is 'your wife bought you that car to keep you out of her hair while she tried to figure out where she could get another baby if Quinn backed out on their deal'. He knows what it feels like to lose something, even if it was never really yours to begin with, and he figures neither of them needs to keep losing the same thing over and over again.

So instead he leans over the engine, wiping at a few rusted bolts with a rag before he looks up at Will. "Well I sure hope you love this car as much as the last two, because it needs all the help it can get."

"That bad, huh?" Will says, hand on the back of his neck and his forehead scrunched up in that little worried frown Finn hasn't seen since back in Glee when Rachel used to get that crazy look in her eye and start ranting about her destiny or whatever. And it's not like Finn knows what he's talking about, but he wants to erase the look on Will's face more than he wants to admit he doesn't know a damn thing about Camaros.

"I mean, it's a pretty big project. We're looking at a couple months' work, at least." It could be a couple years, for all he knows. Hell, it could be completely hopeless. But if it buys him a couple months of hanging out with Will on a regular basis, he'll take it.

"Look, Finn, I meant what I said. I don't want to interfere with your life. You've got school and even once the play's done, you've got your friends..."

Finn doesn't laugh at that, but he wants to. Because the truth is he doesn't really hang out with anyone but Quinn these days, and he's not sure meeting for lunch once a week even counts as hanging out. It's more like a therapy session, when he stops to think about it, which means that Will's the closest thing to a friend he's got.

He doesn't even know how it happened. There was a time when he was popular, when people wanted to be around him, to say that they were friends with Finn Hudson, Star Quarterback. But then high school ended and people moved on, and he never moved into the dorms, because he didn't want to waste Burt's money when it's cheaper to keep living in the room he shared with Kurt in high school. So he goes to class and he goes to rehearsal and he goes to work, and he never really talks to anyone but Quinn and Will.

"I want to help," he says, and it's probably the most honest thing he's said all day. "Really."

For a minute Will just stands there grinning at him, like he's trying to wrap his brain around the concept of Finn wanting to hang out with him. And it's kind of weird, yeah, because Will's like, ten years older than he is, probably, and he used to be Finn's teacher and all. But he's a cool guy, he's fun to talk to, he's got a great smile and an even better laugh, and sometimes when he's really focused on something, he sings under his breath without realizing he's doing it.

Finn finds the singing thing sort of comforting, mainly because it reminds him of Glee and how great it felt to be part of something bigger than him. It reminds him of how Will's the reason Finn joined Glee in the first place, and how he's always been the one to encourage Finn to try stuff that he's not sure he'll be any good at.

So maybe it's corny or whatever, but he likes spending time with Will, and if he has to figure out how to bring a rusty piece of scrap metal back from the dead to do it, he will.

"Okay," Will finally says, then his hand's back on Finn's shoulder and yeah, that touching thing is going to be a problem. "But you have to promise me that if it gets to be too much, you'll let me know."

Finn looks down at the hand that's...Jesus... _squeezing_ his shoulder now. He's never noticed before how big Will's hands are -- almost as big as his, he figures, and he has to suppress the urge to grab Will's hand and compare -- but it's impossible not to notice when long fingers are digging into his muscles.

It feels good -- fucking _fantastic_ , and how pathetic is it that he's getting sort of hard just from a shoulder massage? -- and Finn can't decide if it would be more embarrassing to fake some kind of spasm and pull away, or to keep letting Will touch him and end up trying to hide a hard-on. And he can tell himself all he wants that it's just because he hasn't had sex in forever, but that doesn't change the fact that he's getting turned on by another guy.

 _Everybody's a little gay, Hudson,_ he hears Puck say in his head. His cheeks are burning and he has to bite back a groan, and he's not sure if it's from the way Will's fingers are working out the tension in his shoulder, or if it's because he's about to die of embarrassment.

"You okay?" Will says, frowning at him and now Finn really _is_ going to die of embarrassment.

"Yeah, fine," Finn says. He shakes off Will's hand, keeping his eyes on the engine so he won't have to see Will's reaction. "We better get started if you want to get this thing on the road by summer."

"Right," Will answers, and Finn can hear the frown that he doesn't look up to see. "Let me just grab my tools."

Finn nods and doesn't watch him walk away. Because there's perving on Will's smile, and there's pretending to know more about cars than he does just so Finn can hang out with him, but he definitely draws the line at staring at Will's ass.

Then again, he thinks as he glances up just in time to watch Will bending over to pick up his toolbox, if he's going to spend the next few months torturing himself over Will, he might as well enjoy the view.


End file.
